A confrontation with a woman California Highway Patrol officers described as "disturbed" ended peacefully Thursday even after the woman brandished a knife while in a vehicle with her young son and dog, the agency reported.

An officer at 12:08 p.m. spotted the woman's Toyota 4Runner stopped in between north and southbound lanes of Interstate 5 near the Weed rest area. She was holding up a paper sign reading "HELP."

The officer stopped to check on the vehicle because the 4Runner was stopped in an unsafe place, according to the CHP.

There, the officer contacted the 38-year-old woman from Bend, Oregon, who was traveling with her son, 8, and a medium-sized dog. The officer noticed "something wasn't right and the female was acting differently," the CHP said in a statement describing the incident.

The CHP didn't name the woman. Officer Shawn Gordon, the CHP's public information officer in Yreka, declined to go into detail Thursday evening about how the woman was "acting differently."

"That's about all we're going to put out there in regard to that," Gordon said, referring to the CHP's statement.

The woman, though, went back to her seat, pulled a knife and drove off, the CHP said.

The officer followed the 4Runner, careful to avoid appearing as though he was chasing it so as not to agitate the woman, the CHP said.

Eventually the woman stopped the 4Runner, though not before making several U-turns through the freeway center divider and the arrival of more CHP cars, the agency said.

CHP officers took the woman to the Siskiyou County Behavioral Health office for an evaluation. They also brought the boy and took the dog to animal control for safekeeping, officers said.

Gordon said the woman was at Fairchild Medical Center in Yreka later Thursday evening.

"We are pleased with the safe outcome for all involved in this event," the CHP's statement reads. "Some reports on the internet stated a shotgun was involved, we would like to clarify there were no firearms involved or located."